Comments on: Are Babies Environmentally Sound?

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:22:05 +0000

Wow, I am alarmed to hear of groups still promoting having 12 or 13 children. It almost makes me feel like I should have a couple extra kids to try to balance out the majority opinion. However, I can’t imagine trying to deal with even 4 kids, let alone more than 10!

By: Linnea

Linnea — Sun, 18 May 2008 10:03:46 +0000

I dunno if you’ve read anything about the “quiver-full” people, but I just read an article about them and it made me think of this post. Check out http://www.quiverfull.com, it’s kinda disconcerting, and definitely makes me feel a little like they’re using up all my “kid credits”.

By: baby boy

baby boy — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:30:30 +0000

Some people don’t want babies, and that fine. But I don’t care about all the environmental problems because you can have a child and still care about the environment.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:45:17 +0000

Jessica -
I think there are some folks out there who are just called to have lots of babies and I’m mostly cool with that. The key for me is that folks really *think* about it first. Besides, who am I to judge anyway? I try hard not to judge anyone but unfortunately I’m not very good at it.

I think kids can be super-motivating to live life more greenly, more slowly, more fully but there’s also lots of pressure to buy stuff. Somehow we’re all a little vulnerable to the idea that our children will suffer (or die!) if we don’t provide them with the proper material goods. Those darn marketers are pretty slick.

I’d love to see a strong vision of what the world would/could/will be like if we agree to level off our population and maybe reduce it. I’d like to see some information about what happens when we abandon the idea of perpetual growth in our population and our economy. It sounds like a good thing but it might turn conventional thinking on its ear and I hope we’ll be ready.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:07:43 +0000

I know all the arguments about the environmental impact of children, I used to make them myself. Then I had a child.
Now I want to have more. I can’t explain it. Maybe its because the first one wasn’t how I planned, and I want a do over. I don’t know. I think its more likely because I found that I liked being pregnant, I liked having a baby, and I like being a mommy. All my life I knew I wasn’t a competetor, I don’t do well in situations where the least bit of competition is required (probably why I’m still a Spc five years after I joined the Army), but I never knew until I had my son that there is an alternative. I’m a nurturer.
I know its selfish and unfair to have more than two babies, and in reality one would be more responsible, but I want to have more. Several more. Oh, I’m not abandoning my lifelong dream of adopting, but I am abandoning my old goal of only having one or two of my own. I’ll take as many as the fates will bless me with, I think.
But I won’t do any more for a while. I’m hoping that next time I’ll be married, at least. There are so many people not having babies, or only having one, that I can afford to have a few extra, right? Right? I read an article a couple of years ago about the levelling off and eventual shrinking of the human population expected to take place in the next decade or so due to increased awareness of family planning and birth control and the increased desire for couples to have only one or no children at all. If the population is expected to start declining, then theres room for me to have a big family. Right?
Oh, I know I’m selfish. No one else has to remind me.
As for living green with a baby, I’ve found that having my son has made me a million times more serious about reducing my impact and my son’s impact on the world. So much more serious, in fact, that my household impact might have decreased since having him. Its at least not grown very much at all.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:09:28 +0000

Ms. Cheap -
I would like to have at least two kids because I feel that people mature better when they have siblings, although several of my closests friends come from one-child families. I would definitely be open to adopting as an option for a larger family and I also like the idea of having close friends or family with kids so we could be like siblings. So many options!

Alex -
I must confess, I am not very good at keeping up with green websites or blogs. You might check out the blogs in our blogroll. They’re mostly people like us who are fairly “normal” but are trying to make a difference in the way they live their lives. Earthlab is pretty cool although I’ve been dreaming about writing my own algorithm that would be a little more holistic than just a 20-question quiz. But it’s hard to do. Good luck!

By: alex

alex — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:31:39 +0000

Hey! Thanks for all the great info. I was browsing through a bunch of green websites and blogs and I came across yours and found it very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like the daily green, ecorazzi and earthlab.com. I especially like EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). I find it really easy to use (it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any others you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites (let me know if they are the same as mine).

By: Linnea

Linnea — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:50:05 +0000

Maybe that alleged 1/64th Nez Perce will supply some UV protection…

Or, instead of having your own ’sedan’ kids, you could adopt some ’sports’ kids, or ‘mini’ kids (maybe even ‘hybrid’ kids?)

By: Cheap Like Me

Cheap Like Me — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:11:17 +0000

This is such a fraught issue, and a great post and comments. I have one child, and we were motivated partly by Bill McKibbon’s thought-provoking book “Maybe One.” And yet my heart often bemoans our one-child family … because at heart, people want (or do not want) the number of children that comes to them naturally. There is always adoption, which does not add to the population. Or a combination. Whatever is right for you will be right.

We have been told by many people that they appreciate thoughtful parents raising thoughtful children who will grow up to try to be a benefit to the world. I see that in our daughter already … at 7 she is conscious of global warming and saving animals and helping other people and recycling, as are many children today. And we even let her have fun, too!

By: Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:02:24 +0000

There are a lot of crazy societal pressures out there about having children. I think one of the best things we could do in this country would be to educate our children that it’s okay to grow up and not have children. Or have children. Either way is fine as long as you treat your children well. And it would be nice to slow down the childbirth rate amongst those who are less resource-conscious and increase it amongst those who are more green-oriented but it’s an interesting dilemma since most of the latter want few children.

I am egotistical too and would love to see my genes passed on. We’re pretty much bound to have blue-eyed babies who would undoubtedly grow much taller than me. I do tease Will sometimes that I should have married someone from the indigenous population of the Andes Mountains to mix up the genes a little and to have nice short, compact, efficient, UV-resistant children. But then he reminds me that he’s awesome and what more could a girl want?